George Vernon Irons, Sr. was born August 7, 1902 in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. In 1921, 1922 and 1923 he won the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association Championship 3 mile road race. In doing so, he broke the existing records by 20 seconds. In 1921 he won the AAU championship cross country run in Atlanta. While running for the University of Alabama from 1920 through 1923, he broke conference records in the 2 mile run, the 3 mile run and the 3.5 mile run. Dr. Irons was on the Samford University faculty for 43 years. He passed away in 1998 at the age of 96.